Why don't you read sports manga?

[Munsu]

I'm interested in knowing why most of you don't like reading sports manga or watching sports anime for that matter. I think there's a common misconception of what some of these mangas have to provide, so I'm interested in knowing why.

[Ryllharu]

I suppose it is a matter of personal taste.

Despite how good people continue to tell me they are, I can never seem to get into an Adachi title, because of the art. It just really turns me off, and the lower quality scans available really don't help much. Another related factor is baseball. A lot of sports manga is baseball related, and though I can appreciate it (since one of my old roommates was a huge fan), I have never liked baseball.

A third part makes me look like a pervert. Take Hajime no Ippo. The women drawn in it (I believe I heard once there are a grand total of three in 600-odd chapters) are not drawn well, at all. There is a tendency to turn a lot of sports manga into...a sausage fest. There's generally nothing wrong with that, but I need something more than just sports to interest me in a title.

I largely just find most sports manga repetitive and unrealistic. Realism really shouldn't be expected in manga of any type, but sports manga like Prince of Tennis can really make things ridiculous. After a while, a lot of sports manga can turn very repetitive. See someone else's super move, create a new super move, defeat them, repeat. There is the very rare realistic title, which do on occasion spike my interest (but then they usually develop into over the top nonsense as well).

There are exceptions. I do read the occasional sports title, but usually ones with a twist, variation, or sports is merely a premise and not the focus. I got into Eyeshield 21 for a little while simply because it was an American Football manga, and so unrealistic and over the top. Same goes for No Side since it is a rugby manga, and also a gender swap series. I need something more than just the sports. I can consider sports and excellent basis for a manga, but if it alone is the focus, they are unable to hold my interest for very long.

[Munsu]

I suppose it is a matter of personal taste.

Despite how good people continue to tell me they are, I can never seem to get into an Adachi title, because of the art. It just really turns me off, and the lower quality scans available really don't help much. Another related factor is baseball. A lot of sports manga is baseball related, and though I can appreciate it (since one of my old roommates was a huge fan), I have never liked baseball.

I myself like his art, but if you can't go beyond that then there's no use on explaining how good the stories can be.


A third part makes me look like a pervert. Take Hajime no Ippo. The women drawn in it (I believe I heard once there are a grand total of three in 600-odd chapters) are not drawn well, at all. There is a tendency to turn a lot of sports manga into...a sausage fest. There's generally nothing wrong with that, but I need something more than just sports to interest me in a title.

I guess it's true that it may have too many male characters. The adachi series usually have a very strong female lead somewhere, and it has a decent amount of female characters, still the ratio of male to female is not favorable.



I largely just find most sports manga repetitive and unrealistic. Realism really shouldn't be expected in manga of any type, but sports manga like Prince of Tennis can really make things ridiculous. After a while, a lot of sports manga can turn very repetitive. See someone else's super move, create a new super move, defeat them, repeat. There is the very rare realistic title, which do on occasion spike my interest (but then they usually develop into over the top nonsense as well).

I totally agree. I wouldn't recommend Prince of Tennis to everybody. But there are mangas out there that do have a decent amount of realism, so basing your opinion on the likes of Prince of Tennis is a bad habbit.


There are exceptions. I do read the occasional sports title, but usually ones with a twist, variation, or sports is merely a premise and not the focus. I got into Eyeshield 21 for a little while simply because it was an American Football manga, and so unrealistic and over the top. Same goes for No Side since it is a rugby manga, and also a gender swap series. I need something more than just the sports. I can consider sports and excellent basis for a manga, but if it alone is the focus, they are unable to hold my interest for very long.

I wouldn't recommend Eyeshield 21 either, only to people that actually like this type of stuff. I read a bit of No Side, I found it entertaining.

With what you've given me, I can see you liking some of the Adachi series, but you can't get passed the art so there's no helping it.

I would recommend you one though, Happy by Naoki Urasawa. There's no sousage fest here, the characters have complexity and the drama is good. Another one might be Rookies. Yeah it's about baseball, but I'm on the 4th volume and we've just played one game of Baseball (which started recently). I like to think of it as the GTO of sports.

Well I see valid reasons not to be into sports manga, but don't think that all fit that mold. I think that Happy manga is just an example of a series that may be enjoyed by people that don't like sports, since sports is just used as a sports device... it's not really the focus of the series.

[Augury]

When I thought about Bud's question, I realized that I fall into his generalization insomuch that I don't find much appeal in sports manga and anime, but on the other hand I am not immediatly sure why. I haven't read or seen much of this genre, but in most cases my optimism towards looking into a new series dies a bit when I find out that a story's main theme is a sport.

The few sports manga series' that I have read are Hajime no Ippo, Happy, and I'll Generation Basket, and the sports anime series' that I've seen are Hajime no Ippo and Prince of Tennis. The art for these series never seemed to be an issue to me, and none of these are baseball-related (I don't even know any baseball titles...). Also, the I don't think that the lack of pretty women is a detriment as long as the story is good.

I think the main turnoff for me is a combination of a lack of interest in sports and the absence of realism. Although I swam and played water polo in high school, I don't follow sports at all and I don't really relate to the enthusiasm of sports fans. Also like Ryllharu has mentioned, some of the material (more prominent in the shounen series) is just lame because of how unrealistic or super-powered it is.

Currently I am still following Ippo, but the story is more of something to read than something to look forward to.

[Ryllharu]

I'll give some of your recommendations a try Bud, and I know if I can get past the dated art and poor visual quality scans (the latter being the larger issue), I'll like Adachi's work, or at least that's what I've already been told many, many times.

I agree on the PoT issue, I've never actually read any of it, just seen a eps or two of the anime. I was actually going to use Eyeshield as the example, but since I actually enjoyed a part of it, I had to include it as an exception to my general dislike of sports manga.

[Munsu]

Keep in mind that I'm not recommending Rookies because I think it's great, it's just one you may want to look at since it doesn't necessarily fit in to the generalization mold, but it's still a fun series.

[masamuneehs]

i don't think i've ever watched a sports anime outside of Hajime no Ippo...

why? probably because I watch sports on TV. You know, I follow actual teams and watch their live events. I feel like there are two basic kinds of "sport watchers": those who watch a sport simply because they think the actual game/competition is interesting and those who watch a sport because they're following a team, often geographic or attachment preferences in play here.

I can see that those who fall into the first category for, say baseball, might enjoy Major or another baseball anime. But I don't see those who simply watch football for the sport in itself tuning in to Hajime or Major or Prince of Tennis, simply because they have no attraction to the sport.

People who fall into the second category (and I can't help but instinctively believe this is a majority of people, just because of how most sports leagues are structured) already have a storyline they are following for their sport(s) of choice: an actual team. I don't have any interest in sports anime or manga because I'm already viewing a sports drama when I read the papers every day to see how my team is doing or tune in for games.

I think my reasoning also makes sense when talking about sports manga. Obviously it doesn't hold true in all cases, but it's what came off the top of my head and makes ense to me... Also, and this applies for why people don't read manga in the first place, I think people have a preferred method of "getting" their input. Safe to say everyone on this forum has been raised in a TV-fueled society, where sound and fluid visuals are the norm. Manga, like books or radio, is simply "out of date" as a medium. And this is especially true for sports, where a great deal of the enjoyment comes from watching flesh and blood broadcasts, rather than reading about it in the news and seeing single snapshot highlights.

just my two cents.

[Munsu]

Well, I myself see the sports of aspects of the manga as a mere plot device to move the story forward. The actual drama and story takes place outside the sports portion. For example, the Adachi mangas though they have a heavy dosage of sports, the actual story of interest are friendship, romance, love triangles, and how the characters overcome their own adversities, etc. So yeah, I think there's a bit of misconception on what these series have to offer. For example, I don't care nor do I know how to play Mahjong and Go, still I found the story itself for Hikaru no Go and Akagi very good.

So yeah, I think your reasons given are very valid and very true as to why they don't read sports manga or watch sports anime. I'd say that most that are not already attracted to sports finction in general won't enjoy most that is out there, still I believe that there's a handful of series that would be of interest if only they didn't have sports as a genre and they give them a chance. Major, for example, has some very powerful dramatic scenes that are outside the sports portion, so I think that would be something that some would like even with the heavy dosage of baseball in the manga, I think once the story progresses you would get used to the sports portion and would be genuinely intrigued by the story itself.

[Honoko]

My two cents to those who're hesitant about getting into sports manga/anime:

I'm not much of an avid sports fan and I used to just avoid sports manga/anime just because I thought I wouldn't understand all the terminlogy or just wouldn't get into because it's about a sport I know nothing or barely about. So it took me a really long time before I gave the sports genre an actual shot. So I probably fall into Masa's category of those who would watch the sports genre.

I got into PoT out of sheer boredom and liked it at the beginning before it started getting totally ridiculous. With that said, I think Hajime no Ippo was the sports anime/manga I really got into-- which is saying alot because I never "got" boxing. I never understood the "drama" that came with this sport and had absolutely no interest in watching two guys hit each other (ie, your typical girl =P). Not trying to sell HnI here but my point is, I began to discover that the sports genre can tell a really good storyline and a successful sports anime/manga has good characters (which is always a requirement for my watching anything). Hence my giving Major a shot (another sport, baseball, which I find in real life utterly boring to watch). I was pleasantly surprised at how much family life and character interaction went into this series and once again, I got drawn into another sports anime, not because of the sport itself per se, but because of the characters that flesh out the storyline.

I think the sports genre deserves a little more paying attention to because a **really good** series will not really focus on the sport itself, but on the story and the growth of the main characters which is a necessity for any good series. I feel like the sports genre just has to try a little harder (and if successful get better results?) because it's really easy to get trapped into focusing on just the game action and making up ridiculous moves and such (ie PoT =P). And that's my argument for trying to get the skeptics into the genre.

[GhostKaGe]

I need something more than just the sports. I can consider sports and excellent basis for a manga, but if it alone is the focus, they are unable to hold my interest for very long.


I think that pretty much sums it up for me

Its not that i don't like sports manga its just that with sport manga the sport often becomes the focal point and the character development takes a back seat. Its my view that a story regardless of it being a book, manga or TVshow (or any other format) should have good characters and plot and provide a good balance between character development and furthering the plot without either having to lose out to the other.

[Dark Dragon]

I think that pretty much sums it up for me

Its not that i don't like sports manga its just that with sport manga the sport often becomes the focal point and the character development takes a back seat. Its my view that a story regardless of it being a book, manga or TVshow (or any other format) should have good characters and plot and provide a good balance between character development and furthering the plot without either having to lose out to the other.

Well that is not always the case. I understand where you are coming from though if you watch sport anime such as ES21 and PoT. Take shonen for example, there are plenty of crappy shonen with your predictable story, however once in a while a shonen such as Hunter X Hunter come out and blow peoples mind away.

Sports is also the same, i personally love the Adachi series because most of them feel more like a romance/drama story with a sport setting. Those of you that has read/seen Hajime no Ippo should consider trying Katsu, it's one of Adachi's title that has a boxing setting. Adachi art takes a bit getting used to but once you get pass that there will be plenty of good story, character development and of course random main character breaking the limit moments.

[Honoko]

Well that is not always the case. I understand where you are coming from though if you watch sport anime such as ES21 and PoT. Take shonen for example, there are plenty of crappy shonen with your predictable story, however once in a while a shonen such as Hunter X Hunter come out and blow peoples mind away.

Sports is also the same, i personally love the Adachi series because most of them feel more like a romance/drama story with a sport setting. Those of you that has read/seen Hajime no Ippo should consider trying Katsu, it's one of Adachi's title that has a boxing setting. Adachi art takes a bit getting used to but once you get pass that there will be plenty of good story, character development and of course random main character breaking the limit moments.
I read Katsu and it took some getting used to. It was my first Adachi manga and the first sports manga I ever read that was so mellow. And yet, the storyline was strangely addicting. So weird. But I enjoyed it for what it was.

[Dark Dragon]

yeah even though characters in adachi manga ALL looks the same, i never get tired of it lol because their personality, action and reaction to events is so unique.

[Apraxhren]

I suppose I am on the other side on this subject. I am an avid sports fan, especially baseball in all of its glorious history, so it is a bit surprising that I have never read a sports based manga. I'm sure I'd probably like several as I also love character driven works, however I just can't find the interest to start reading it. There are good plots in every genre and what draws the reader into the plot is the setting. In any medium, specifically graphic mediums, the exotic setting tends to grab more attention and real-life situations, to which sports belong, are harder to sell.
Sadly that just seems to be the way it goes, myself specifically I have a hard time getting into anything new even if I know it is good.